https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2023/oct/21/amazon-jeff-bezos-delivery-drones-expansion She’d drawn the curtains and sat down to read, the light from the screen keeping her awake. She’d finished the order. It wasn’t urgent but there was no choice. Fifteen minutes. She wished she could just go to bed. She listened and read… Once upon a midnight dreary, while I pondered, weak and weary, … [Read more…]
https://www.theverge.com/2023/5/15/23724357/amazon-ai-powered-conversational-experience-search It’s more than the fact he knows everything there is to know about the genre. It’s the whole experience of the shop. It feels dusty, a little cramped, maybe a little darker than you’d like. A secret place just for those of us in the know. And then there’s him. Yeh, he knows everything … [Read more…]
https://www.theverge.com/2023/3/28/23659191/amazon-sidewalk-network-coverage The city was chattering. Countless conversations silently wove patterns across the streets. Animate and inanimate objects talked to each other. Humans and unhumans exchanged greetings and information. A walk across town was a series of short and long chats. The postbox greeted the parcel. The dog had an exchange with a tree. A weather … [Read more…]
https://gizmodo.com/amazon-ads-amazon-prime-jeff-bezos-online-shopping-1849858058 I was lucky to get in, really. I had to do a lot to – how shall i put it? – “shape” my identity so I’d be attractive. They don’t actually want people like me. They want the retouched me. It cost me to get in shape. Identity shapers don’t come cheap and some … [Read more…]
Amazon is quietly developing cancer vaccines in partnership with Fred Hutchinson and recruiting patients for a new clinical trial https://archive.ph/fzupr#selection-1649.0-1649.129 She couldn’t help it. She always looked. It was the one thing that stopped her simply clicking ‘buy now’ or ordering via voice or virtual blinking or any of the other trendy ways you could … [Read more…]
Amazon will share cashierless store data with brands and advertisers https://adage.com/article/marketing-news-strategy/amazon-will-share-cashierless-store-data-brands-and-advertisers/2422081 She didn’t bother adding it up as she went along. She was too busy weighing up the options and mentally planning the meals. She’d become quite an imaginative cook. Rice. Pulses. Big bags that could be endlessly repurposed. She was quite proud of her … [Read more…]
Amazon previews Alexa capability that synthesizes a person’s voice from less than a minute of audio https://www.geekwire.com/2022/amazon-previews-alexa-capability-that-synthesizes-a-persons-voice-from-less-than-a-minute-of-audio/ There must be something here. There are photos: albums full of slightly fading prints and then USB sticks and a hard drive shoebox of images probably not sorted but with metadata we can use. Diaries, notebooks, sketchbooks. So … [Read more…]
Amazon announces its first fully autonomous mobile warehouse robot https://www.theverge.com/2022/6/21/23177756/amazon-warehouse-robots-proteus-autonomous-cart-delivery It was all quiet when I arrived. The giant building hummed gently. “Like clockwork,” they’d said in the interview and I could see and hear what they meant. There was piped music, not pumped in and pumped up to get workers moving faster as in … [Read more…]
Amazon launches AR-powered virtual shoe try-on in its iOS app https://www.theverge.com/2022/6/9/23161127/amazon-augmented-reality-virtual-shoe-try-on Yeh, that looks good. Not bad at all. That’ll turn a few heads. I can see myself now. Goes with that jacket – yeh crowded tube train, I’ll stand out. And those new jeans I bought… in a coffee bar, an itinerant intellectual. Yeh … [Read more…]
Amazon is opening a real-world clothing store with high-tech fitting rooms https://www.cnbc.com/2022/01/20/amazon-opening-new-apparel-store-amazon-style-with-fitting-rooms.html The fitting room’s lights shifted hue as the hatch slid open and she took out the outfit. Pristine. Folded. The ribbon’s bow smiled up at her. The playlist she had planned for the party sounded softly around the space. Not background, just environment. … [Read more…]